Refugee & Immigrant Health

Access Alliance is a community center that works to promote health and well-being and improve access to services for immigrants and refugees in Toronto by addressing medical, social, economic and environmental issues. This website features a series of publications, reports and profiles related to the health and wellbeing of refugees and immigrants. (Ontario, Canada)

Chime is a group of health professional students at McMaster University interested in learning about issues surrounding inner city health. They provide health education, volunteer services and advocacy for the marginalized of Hamilton, Ontario. This webpage provides some general recommendations to health care providers concerning how to respectfully discuss the cultural needs and beliefs of clients. (Ontario, Canada)

This site contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues and other related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants to Seattle or the US, many of whom are refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the world. See ethno specific resources. (United States)

This website was developed in collaboration with health professionals working with asylum seekers and refugees in the U.K.. It provides access to a wealth of information, practical tools, and articles that have been written by health care professionals, NGOs, academics and research bodies with expert knowledge of working with asylum seekers and refugees, both in the UK and other countries. (United Kingdom)

The goal of HmongHealth.org and the Hmong Health Education Network is to provide access to health information for Hmong people and those who provide health, education and social services to the Hmong community. (United States)

This is a Health Canada link to Canadian health policy research on immigration and health. The purpose of this report is to review research on the health and determinants of health of Canadian immigrants and to discuss the implications of this research for policy makers. Specific attention is placed on reviewing evidence of the "healthy immigrant effect". (Canada)

This is a manual developed by the Minnesota Department of Health for health care providers. It provides guidance on general questions related to the delivery of health care to refugees. Health topics covered include: Immunization, TB, Hepatitis B, Sexual Transmitted Infections, Parasitic Infections, Malaria, Child Lead Screening, Refugee Mental Health and Working with Interpreters. (United States)

New Routes to Community Health is a new approach for improving the health of immigrants through immigrant-created media. Information on health, culture and background of diverse immigrant and refugee populations is featured. (United States)

The office of Refugee and Resettlement implemented the "Points of Wellness - Partnering for Refugee Health and Wellbeing Initiative (POWI)" - a health promotion and disease prevention program to assist organizations concerned with the well-being of refugees. The philosophy of the initiative is to help develop and implement health promotion and disease prevention activities and programs within, and specifically tailored to, refugee communities. This website provides a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Toolkit for use by those who work to promote the well-being of refugees. (United States)

This resource was developed by the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture in Victoria, Australia. It is a comprehensive guide to working with clients from refugee backgrounds. This guide can be accessed under Publications and Resources Available for Download - Refugee Health. Useful information for Canadian health care professionals includes: health concerns of adult, adolescent and child refugees, strategies for supporting access to health care, an approach to refugee health assessment, cross cultural communication, management and psychological approaches to dealing with trauma and torture experiences. (Australia)

The Center for International Rehabilitation, Research, Information and Exchange developed a thirteen-volume monograph series, which provides specific information on cultural perspectives of foreign-born persons in the U.S., especially recent immigrants. The monographs contain specific information about culture that rehabilitation service providers can use to more effectively meet the needs of foreign-born recipients of rehabilitation services. (United States)

Disclaimer: Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) offers Google Translate to better facilitate access for our community. However, HHS makes no claims regarding the accuracy of translations. Any and all health information should be verified by a health care professional.